so does anyone know much about the auto trnnys on e36 328i. i wanna chnge the fluid but i know they say its lifetime but mine shifts really hrd and its slipping i think it might be low..

 

There should be a drain plug and a fill plug I have a 325i and they are on the driverside. I called some dealer and they said it was reagular dex3. Im just waiting on getting the filter and pan gasket and gonna do mine.

 

Manchesi, if it's slipping, don't even think about changing the fluid, or you stand a good chance of making it worse, or killing it completely. If it's still driveable, swing by the shop and I'll run a diag on it to see whether it's the transmission itself or one of the control mechanisms (sensor, TCM, loose wire, etc.), and help figure out a course of action.

And yes, it takes standard Dex III (standard service) or Shell LA2634 (lifetime service).

address & phone number in my sig.

 

There is no drain plug; to change fluid you need to remove pan, dump fluid, take out magnet clean it up. New filter, new fluid. Drive 500/1000 miles, and change fluid and new filter because you can't drain the fluid from the torque converter when doing a flush.

Sometimes you may need to do three flushes + add some lucas transmission additive before it acts better.

But if its over or near 150,000 miles, don't bother just buy a used tranny and swap in.